In situ forming PLGA implant for 90 days controlled release of leuprolide acetate for treatment of prostate cancer

In prostate cancer, hormone therapy via leuprolide acetate drug (LUP) is used to lower the level of testosterone down to castration level to effectively control the development of prostate cancer. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effective parameters in degradation and controlled release of an injectable in situ formed polymeric implant, loaded with leuprolide acetate, in order to achieve an optimum formulation for sustained drug release for 90 days with minimum burst release. The main problem associating with such implants is their high burst release. Designing an injectable implant with sustained and minimum burst release has thus become an attractive challenge in drug delivery field. Effects of type of poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) 75:25 copolymers (RG752, RG756) and addition of nano‐hydroxyapatite (HA) particles on degradation rates of the implants and release profiles were examined in vitro and in vivo in a rabbit animal model. Results showed that implants containing polymers with higher molecular weights had significantly lower weight loss and molecular weight reduction. Adding nanoparticles of hydroxyapatite into poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) implants caused further reduction in degradation rates, leading to a more sustained drug release in vivo, with reduced burst release. Different conventional kinetic models were applied to drug release and degradation data. The degradation data fit well to the first‐order degradation model. Higuchi model was the best kinetic release model fitted to the experimental in vitro release data. This study led to an optimum formulation (RG756:RG752 3:1 + 5% HA) with sustained leuprolide release and testosterone suppression over a 90‐day period with significant decrease of burst release phase (50%, p < 0.001) compared with the conventional Eligard formulation. The histopathology test showed that the formulated implant had no effects of toxicity or tissue necrosis in organs of the animal model. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of trace amounts of nystatin in water and vaccine samples using sodium dodecyl sulfate-coated iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles followed by high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet detection

In this work, magnetic solid-phase extraction based on sodium dodecyl sulfate-coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles has been successfully applied for extraction and preconcentration of trace amounts of nystatin from water and vaccine samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet detection. Various experimental parameters affecting extraction and recovery of the analyte, such as the amount of sodium dodecyl sulfate, pH of the sample solution, salt concentration, extraction time, sample volume and desorption conditions, were systematically studied and optimized. Under optimized conditions, nystatin was quantitatively extracted. Proper linear range with good coefficient of determination, (R ² > 0.99) and limit of detection and quantification (based on signal-to-noise ratios of 3 and 10) of 2.0 and 5.0 µg L^?1, over the investigated concentration range (5–700 µg L^?1), were obtained, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations at 50 µg L^?1 level of NYS were 1.4 and 4.5% based on six replicate determinations. The accuracy of the method was evaluated by recovery measurements on spiked samples. Suitable recoveries of 96–102 and 26–44% were achieved (at spiked levels of 50, 300 and 500 µg L^?1) for water and vaccine samples, respectively.     

Synthetic Approaches towards the Sulfonamide Substituted‐1,5‐Diarylimidazole‐2‐thiones as Selective Cyclooxygense‐2 inhibitors

A new series of sulfonamide substituted 1,5‐diarylimidazole, possessing C‐2 alkylthio moiety, were synthesized for their cyclooxygense‐2 (COX‐2) inhibitory activity starting from condensation of N,N‐dibenzylaminosulfonylphenacylamine hydrochloride ( 2 ) and corresponding isothiocyanate in the presence of Et₃N, followed by alkylation in the basic medium. In concomitant with these intermediates, 2‐arylamino‐5‐arylthiazole derivatives 5 were also produced. The ratio of these two products was variable with different isothiocyanates. Final debenzylation was achieved using concentrated sulfuric acid to give the title sulfonamides 8 .     

Performance evaluation of CAESAR–QSAR output using PAHs as a case study

The set of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds was examined with the Internet available quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) CAESAR models. For mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, developmental toxicity, and skin sensitization, the report includes the predicted classifications, the analysis of applicability domains, and the similarity sets, which consist of the similar compounds from the training sets. These results were further analyzed with chemometrical methods, that is, hierarchical clustering, principal component analysis, and self‐organizing maps, which were used for clustering and to define the cluster indicators. Such analysis assists the users in planning the application of QSAR models for hazard communication in regulatory compliance and in research of new active compounds. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross-linked, heterogeneous colloidosomes exhibit pH-induced morphogenesis

Inspired by morphogenesis in biology, we present a strategy for developing functional 3D materials with the capacity to morph based on environmental cues. We utilized local mechanical stresses to cause global shape changes in colloidosomes. Colloidosomes were assembled from pH-sensitive calcium alginate particles (CAPs) with high and low swelling ratios. Colloidosomes were subsequently cross-linked via diamine compounds with varying carbon chain lengths. New colloidosome isoforms were generated from heterogeneous mixtures of CAPs, which resulted in nonuniform stresses. Our study demonstrated that coordinated networks of heterogeneous subunits may be used to design programmable materials.     

Characterization of carboxylic acids in atmospheric aerosols using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HILIC/ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for determination of selected aliphatic (i.e. malonic, succinic, glutaric, adipic, pimelic, suberic, azelaic, maleic, fumaric, glycolic and pyruvic acid), alicyclic (i.e. cis-pinonic and pinic acid) and aromatic (i.e. trimesic, phthalic acid and its isomers) carboxylic acids. Analytes were separated on an amide column using a gradient elution with a 10mM constant ionic strength mobile phase containing acetonitrile and aqueous ammonium acetate buffer (pH 5.0). The influence of the buffer type, pH, polar modifier and temperature on analyte retention under HILIC was studied. Static sonication-assisted solvent extraction was optimized for sample preparation prior to analysis. The recoveries obtained were higher than 90% for most analytes. The method was proven to be sensitive with limits of detection ranged from 0.03 to 16.0 μg/L in selected reaction monitoring mode (SRM). The repeatability and intermediate precision of the method, expressed as RSD (%) of the peak area ratio between analytes and their internal standards were generally lower than 5%. The method was successfully applied for determination of the studied acids in samples of ambient aerosol particles. A big advantage of the new method is also its ability to detect and separate the isobaric compounds of the selected carboxylic acids. Our results demonstrate that the method is specific and sensitive for the determination of a wider range of polar carboxylic acids at low concentrations in complex samples of aerosol particles.     

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 and analogues protect primary human keratinocytes against UVB-induced DNA damage

Exposure to UVB irradiation is a major risk factor for the development of skin cancer. Therefore, it is important to identify agents that can offer protection against UVB-caused damage. Photocarcinogenesis is caused largely by mutations at sites of incorrectly repaired DNA photoproducts, of which the most common are the cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs). In this study, we demonstrated that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] protects primary human keratinocytes against the induction of CPDs by UVB. This protection required pharmacologic doses 1,25(OH)2D3 and an incubation period of at least 8 h before irradiation. Furthermore, we provided arguments indicating that the anti-proliferative capacity of 1,25(OH)2D3 underlies its protective effect against UVB-induced DNA damage. Finally, we showed that 19-nor-14-epi-23-yne-1,25(OH)2D3 (TX 522) and 19-nor-14,20-bisepi-23-yne-1,25(OH)2D3 (TX 527), two low-calcemic analogues of 1,25(OH)2D3, were even 100 times more potent than the parent molecule in inhibiting UVB-caused DNA damage. These molecules are therefore promising candidates for the chemoprevention of UVB-induced skin cancer.     

Fatou Components of Attracting Skew-Products

We investigate the existence of wandering Fatou components for polynomial skew-products in two complex variables. In 2004, the non-existence of wandering domains near a super-attracting invariant fiber was shown in Lilov (Fatou theory in two dimensions, PhD thesis, University of Michigan, 2004). In 2014, it was shown in Astorg et al. (Ann Math, arXiv:1411.1188 [math.DS], 2014) that wandering domains can exist near a parabolic invariant fiber. In Peters and Vivas (Math Z, arXiv:1408.0498, 2014), the geometrically attracting case was studied, and we continue this study here. We prove the non-existence of wandering domains for subhyperbolic attracting skew-products; this class contains the maps studied in Peters and Vivas (Math Z, arXiv:1408.0498, 2014). Using expansion properties on the Julia set in the invariant fiber, we prove bounds on the rate of escape of critical orbits in almost all fibers. Our main tool in describing these critical orbits is a possibly singular linearization map of unstable manifolds.     

Improved bounds for separating hash families

An ${(N;n,m,\{w_1,\ldots, w_t\})}$ -separating hash family is a set ${\mathcal{H}}$ of N functions ${h: \; X \longrightarrow Y}$ with ${|X|=n, |Y|=m, t \geq 2}$ having the following property. For any pairwise disjoint subsets ${C_1, \ldots, C_t \subseteq X}$ with ${|C_i|=w_i, i=1, \ldots, t}$ , there exists at least one function ${h \in \mathcal{H}}$ such that ${h(C_1), h(C_2), \ldots, h(C_t)}$ are pairwise disjoint. Separating hash families generalize many known combinatorial structures such as perfect hash families, frameproof codes, secure frameproof codes, identifiable parent property codes. In this paper we present new upper bounds on n which improve many previously known bounds. Further we include constructions showing that some of these bounds are tight.